Specifications

• Height: 33, 27 and 33,5 cm
• Material: wood, cotton
• Position: standing, seated
• Gender: male
• Indigenous name: fltr siraha bwa alawa, hazi nuwu 2x

Provenance

Wolf Curt von Schierbrand (1807-1888), Museum für Völkerkunde, Dresden inv. nrs 1814, 1818, 1816

Publications

Martin, Petra (2004), Gaben an die Residenz. Ethnographische Kostbarkeiten aus den Kurfürstlich-Könichlichen Sammlungen Dresdens, 7-8 ill. 4

Ref.: Gronert, Walter a.o. (1990), Nias Tribal Treasures, 222 fig. 64 and 65

Additional information

All three hail from South Nias and were acquired before 1865 and therefore belong to the earliest collected pieces from this island. The warrior figure on the left is a piece in commemoration of the forging of gold head ornaments. The other two have a bamboo tube in between their legs originally holding tiny palmwood sticks, akhe or famaso; these served for the spirit of the dead to enter the image.